Deadly blast mars Lanka vote

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Deadly blast mars Lanka

vote

From Iqbal Athas

CNN

Thursday, November 17, 2005;

Posted: 5:00 a.m. EST (10:00 GMT)

 

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) --

Police in Sri Lanka are blaming Tamil Tiger rebels for an explosion that killed

two voters as they went to cast their ballots on election day in the eastern

coastal district of Batticaloa.

A grenade apparently exploded in a home near a polling

station, also injuring six people, authorities said on Thursday, as 13 million

Sri Lankans headed to the polls to elect the troubled island nation's fifth president.

Police said two similar incidents took place Thursday in Batticaloa,

injuring eight civilians, five policemen and two home guards.

The rebels are boycotting the elections, seen largely as a

contest between the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) candidate, Prime

Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and opposition chief Ranil Wickremasinghe, the

leader of the United National Party.

The winner will be tasked with resolving the country's two-decade-long ethnic

conflict with the rebels, which has resulted in more than 60,000 deaths.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/11/17/srilanka/index.html

 

 

 

 

Rebel boycott, grenades mar Sri Lanka vote

17 Nov 2005 18:33:09 GMT

Source:

Reuters

 

 

 

(Updates

with election commissioner, monitors)

By Simon Gardner

COLOMBO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Sri Lankans voted in

a closely fought presidential poll on Thursday seen as a referendum on how to

rescue the faltering peace process and tsunami-hit economy, but a Tamil Tiger

boycott and sporadic violence marred the vote.

The country's election commissioner said the poll had been largely free and

fair, but a local monitoring group said intimidation by the rebels had

undermined the democratic process.

Heavily armed police guarded 22 regional centres

where counting continued late on Thursday, in a two-horse race between hawkish

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe,

seen as more dovish towards the rebels.

Election officials said turnout had been around

75 percent, even though the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels

imposed a near-blanket boycott in around the seventh of the island they control

in the north and east.

Several grenades exploded near rebel-held areas,

injuring four policemen and two civilians, and two suspected rebel cadres died

when a bomb they were making exploded.

But officials said the poll was among the

calmest in years. " In general the election was peaceful, " Elections

Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said in an address on state television. " There

were a few minor incidents in several parts of the country and we are still investigating

them. "

" Overall it seems to be a free and

fair election, " he added.

 

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP286073.htm

 

 

Dear List Members,

 

Dasha: Su/Ve/Sa/Ra/Ma till 15:25, and Su/Ve/Sa/Ju/Ju afterwards.

 

In transit, the afflicted MMP Mercury

closely afflicts MEP2. Venus, the MMP of navamsa, is exactly on MEP3. Rahu/Ketu

axis is closely afflicting all the even houses, Mercury, Saturn, the Moon, and

the natal Sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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